Choosing Wisely: Challenges for Laboratories in an ACO World

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

No one in the laboratory management business wants the Affordable Care Organization (ACO) movement to weaken the candor and financial substance of medical laboratories. This is why it is necessary for laboratories to choose wisely and prepare for the challenges forthcoming in an ACO world.

ASCP is participating in the Choosing Wiselycampaign, which is about selecting the most appropriate tests for patients and avoiding duplicative testing that could actually harm them. Laboratory tests are often ordered without performing a complete patient history and a physical examination of patients.

“Inefficiency threatens our ability to deliver the highest quality of care to all patients,” says Lee Hilborne, MD, MPH, DLM(ASCP)CM, who will present a live webinar on the Choosing Wisely campaign for the Lab Management University (LMU), a joint collaboration between ASCP and the American Pathology Foundation.

Dr. Hilborne will share his expertise in an interactive webinar titled, “Choosing Wisely: Challenges for Laboratories in an ACO World,” from 4 to 5 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, Oct. 24, as part of the LMU’s free webinar series. At the conclusion of the webinar, there will be a 30-minute new candidate orientation that outlines the structure, benefits, and details around enrolling in the program and obtaining the LMU Certificate of Completion.

Initiated by the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation, the Choosing Wisely campaign seeks to reduce negative consequences associated with the overuse of medical services. Unnecessary testing may lead to inappropriate treatment decisions and consume unnecessary resources.

Choosing Wisely is a “key opportunity for us to lower cost and improve what we do,” says Dr. Hilborne who has led the process of determining and defining the medical laboratory tests that physicians and patients should question as part of ASCP’s participation in the Choosing Wisely campaign. Pathologists and laboratory professionals are in a position to assist clinicians in making more informed decisions about which tests are appropriate to use for specific situations.